in these countries, as well as the push that forces people to look somehow or other to survive by coming to the united states. >> eduardo lopez, you have remarkable footage that has never been seen before in this country throughout. in a moment, we're going to el salvador to talk about what drove a lot of the migration here.

where did you get it? >> many, many sources. there's a lot of footage that has never been seen, that hasn't been seen in decades. again, this is a testament to the team that created this. our editor, catherine shields, is amazing. and so is our co-director, peter getzels. i have to say about the dominican republic, i'd like to make a point that one of the main reasons we made this film is to be personified by junot diaz, who is contributing as one of our great american writers. his whole life was changed dramatically by our invasion of the dominican republic in 1965 with 23,000 marines. something that most americans know nothing about because all of this history is never taught in our schools and colleges. so for latinos, whose life is turned upside down by our own government actions and latin

america that many times we are unaware of, what happens is there is this tremendous disconnect. i believe this is one of the reasons why some to the big rhetoric about immigrants takes hold in our country because we don't know. so here is junot diaz whose life is completely changed because of our actions, yet all of us as american citizens, no nothing of what we did in the dominican republic. i think that is one of the key parts of this dilma. >> the significance of the invasion of 1965? >> i think that sent a message throughout latin america and that timeframe with the united states coming out of the kennedy era, the alliance for progress era, that the united states now was the enemy of change because, obviously, juan bosch was not a revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination. he was a liberal democrat who

wanted to have land reform and wanted to have basic changes in the lives of the dominican people. so when the u.s. government basically pack the coup against him, isn't the message throughout latin america that the -- is sent a message throughout latin america that our government was going to be the enemy of real social change in the region. and that lasted really until the 1990's. until the new era that has developed and latin america social progress of governments being elected to power, getting rid of all dictatorships, old rule by the popular -- military, and giving the popular will a chance to bring more progressive leaders to power. but that really was from the 1960's to the 1990's, you have throughout latin america, the role of these dictators and military leaders that were largely backed by the united states. >> i want to go to a part of the film that deals with the assassination of archbishop

oscar romero on march 24, 1980, in el salvador. this clip features the voices of sister pat murray, former u.s. ambassador to el salvador robert white, and sister terry alexander, mary nell missionary. >> his assassination -- in church -- stunned the entire nation. >> as the crowd started to grow, they realized that this was going to be a very difficult time. and we could see all the party is that were on the roofs. all of the sudden, there was a shot fired. then the bomb went off. the everybody just scattered. then the korea opened fire --

guardia opened fire. oh, lord. important that the world know that we stood behind him. [applause] >> for the first time, some had faced down the salvadoran military and said, "you people are killing the people you are sworn to protect." >> father paul schindler had received a telephone call saying this former had seen the bodies of four women, very definitely american.

he began reading a description of the four women. and as he read each one, i could say, "that was jean. that's jean. that's dorothy. that's ita." three of us knelt down there to pray. and i guess my prayer was, like more had said once before, "how long, oh god, how long must this continue to happen?" >> that was sister terry alexander. juan gonzalez? >> the footage they have been able to capture their is really amazing. the actual footage not only of the military shooting down the people at bishop romero's

funeral, but then actually of the nuns of the church, women being dragged up, they're dead bodies. i have really been amazed at in each of these countries, whether it's guatemala, the footage of the actual coup actualarbenz in 1954, and this incredible footage that's never been seen in the united states rigoberta menchu was interviewed in the film, and she talks about the killing of her father in the spanish embassy when the guatemalan government burn down the embassy that was full of dissidents who had taken refuge there, including her father. and they've actually unable to catch -- find images in the archives of guatemala of that day and the people being burned and the crowds outside of the spanish embassy that day. >> eduardo lópez, the nobel peace prize winner?

>> we were very happy that she participated, because i think she really communicate something that, again, as americans, we were never told. in the story of guatemala, it's amazing that we had a time when in the united states we had one brother who was head of the cia and another brother who was the secretary of state. and because they had received complaints from one company, the united fruit company, they decided that in order to help this company, they're going to take out a democratically elected government. >> allen dulles and john foster dulles. >> exactly. our actions in 1954 in guatemala taking down the arbwenz government unleashed decades of civil war in that country that ended up killing more than 200,000 people. and rigoberta menchu is the person who must perform a fis the struggle of the mayan people drought that time.

-- who personifies the struggle of the mayan people throughout that time. this is another reason why we just felt really compelled to make this film and to work through the seven years in order to bring this to fruition. >> juan gonzalez, the comments of ann coulter;s , as when she said, "i think so our rights are for blacks. what have we done to the immigrants? we all black people something. we have a legacy of slavery. immigrants have an even been in this country." >> she neglects to deal with the reality in of u.s.-mexican history. the entire southwest of the u.s. was taken from mexico and the mexican-american war of 1846. there were mexicans living on the land when the u.s. to get over in the tree of guadalupe hidalgo. you know, some mexicans often

say the original -- the descendants of those original settlers, "we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us." she neglects to deal with the reality of the puerto rican existence in the u.s. there are nearly 5 million, 44 6 million puerto rican -- u.s. citizens of puerto rican descent in the u.s. and another 4 million, roughly, on the island of puerto rico. and the puerto rican is never went anywhere. they were just captured as a prize of war in the spanish- american war and 1898 by the united states and declared citizens by congress against the objections -- the unanimous objection of the house of delegates of puerto rico, which in 1917 rejected citizenship, voted unanimously against u.s. citizenship. and yet it was imposed on the puerto rican is by the united states congress. so that when an coulter says,

you know, what have we done to the immigrants? mexicans and puerto ricans are the two largest groups of latinos in the united states. and that's no accident. is a direct result of the history of the united states with these two countries. >> explain your title, "harvest of empire." >> well, the harvest of the empire, as i explained in both the book and in the movie, starting at the end of world war ii, really, the people of the third world started coming to the west. they came precisely to those countries that had once been there colonial masters, so that in france, they don't know to do about all the algerians and the traditions and the moroccans. in england, they don't know what to do about all the indians and the pakistan's and the jamaicans. in the united states, they don't know what to do about all the

latin americans. those were precisely the former colonies of those in pyres. with the ending of world war ii and with the independence movements that developed throughout asia and africa and latin america, the peoples of those former colonial countries are coming to the metropolis, and they're changing, transforming the very composition of this nation's. and so that, for us, the u.s., it's not even -- were not dealing with this immigration "problem" alone. england has an immigration problem. france and germany have immigration problems. it is the harvest of the empire's that made those countries so wealthy. the capital came, but now the people are coming as well. >> the last clip we played was of archbishop romero, march 24, 1980.

yourself are from el salvador, an immigrant here in the united states. >> this is one of the reasons why we produced this film and why we feel so strongly about it. as one points out in his book and in the film, el salvador is maybe the latest and one of the clearest examples of this direct connection between our foreign policy and immigration. in the census of 1980, there were less than 100,000 salvadorans listed. just 32 years later, we're poised to become the third largest latino population in the united states. you have to remember el salvador is the smallest country in all of the americas. and yet how is it inly 32 years, we are about to become the third largest in population in the u.s.? if all the rhetoric about immigration was true, and it's this poverty or a dysfunctional

government, if that were really the cause of immigration, you would have had people coming from el salvador forever. but that's not the case. people started coming in 1980 because of the war, and specifically because of our own country's actions in the war. in the film, we talk about the school of the americas and how most of the human rights abuses and the massacres, including the killing of the nuns and the murder of archbishop romero, was really done by people trained at the school of the americas by our own country. this is a clear example of how this connection continues to exist. it's not something that just happen 150 years ago. it continues to happen. >> of course, get the latest presidential link, this remarkable story surrounding bain, how mitt romney helped found bain capital with investments from central american links -- central

american elites linked to the death squads in el salvador. this is something we reported on in discussed on "democracy now!" after initially struggling to find investors, romney traveled to miami in 1983 to win pledges of $9 million, 40% of bain's start up money. some investors had extensive ties to death squads responsible for a vast majority of the deaths in salvador in the 1980's. the investors include the salaverria family, whom the former u.s. ambassador to el salvador, robert white, a previously accused of directly funding the salvadoran paramilitaries. bain executive harry strunk and rights romney pushed aside his own misgivings about the investors to accept their backing. he writes -- these latin american friends have loyally rolled over investments in succeeding funds, actively participated in bain capital's may investor meetings, and are still today one of the largest investor groups in bain capital. i want to get your comment.

>> i think of governor romney had ever bothered to meet one of the torture victims of the death squads or one of the family members of the people who were brutally killed during that time, maybe he would have thought twice about accepting the blood money. to me, it is really unacceptable when you look at the -- i believe it was around $9 million that he accepted that the investment money. but where this money came from and the people who give it to him is something that he really should have looked at much more closely, because it is related to the most terrible atrocities. as ambassador robert white says in our film, when you are a group of uniformed butchers, the people don't emigrate, they flee. and to me, it is unbelievable that now governor romney talks about immigrants with derogatory terms like "illegals," and that he profited from the funding

that actually caused so much of the emigration to the united states from el salvador. >> in fact, mitt romney talks about people should self support. juan gonzalez? >> i think ross central america, in salvador, in nicaragua and honduras -- there's always been a very small indeed that has benefited from being a comprador group, basically facilitating the exploitation of their own countries by american businesses, largely. and i think that the -- the romney was so closely tied to some of the salvadoran compradors is really astounding in terms of his stance on immigration. and in the film, the action have one of the most powerful portions of the film is the testimony of one of the salvadoran torture victims, who became an immigrant or a refugee

here in the united states free of the she talks in vivid terms about the kinds of tortures that she went through -- in the united states. she talks in vivid terms about the kinds of tortures that she went through and somehow managed to survive. romney got his start in bain through this investment, by some of the salvadorian believes, is really telling in itself. >> i want to get your comment on the current presidential candidates talking about immigration. in an appearance on the spanish- language network univision last thursday, president obama faced tough questions over his immigration policies, including his failure to fulfill a campaign promise to enact comprehensive immigration reform during his first year in office. of a mccall the lack of immigration reform the biggest failure of his presidency but attempted to shift blame for the failure to republicans. >> when we talk about immigration reform in the first year, that's before the economy

was on the verge of collapse. lehman brothers had collapsed. the stock market was collapsing. and so my first priority was making sure we prevented us from going into a great depression. and i think everybody remembers where we were four years ago. what i confess i did not expect, and so i'm happy to take responsibility for being naive here, is that republicans who had previously supported comprehensive immigration reform -- my opponent in 2008 who had been a champion of it and who attended these meetings -- suddenly would walk away. >> president obama's comments come as his administration faces scrutiny for deporting and detaining a record number of undocumented people. nearly 400,000 immigrants were deported during the last fiscal year. republican presidential nominee mitt romney also fielded questions about immigration during a wednesday appearance on univision. romney attacked obama is

deferred action policy that allows some young undocumented people to remain in the country temporarily, saying a more permanent solution was needed. romney was accused during the appearance of avoiding specific details about a possible permanent solution and asked to respond with a yes or no on whether he would deport undocumented youth. >> were not going to round up people around the country and deport them. i said during my primary campaign, time and again, were not won a round of 12 million people, that includes kids and parents, and have everyone deported. we need to provide a long-term solution. i've described the fact i would be in support of a program that said that people who served in our military to be permanent residents of the united states. unlike the president, when i am president, i will do what i promised. i will put in place an immigration reform plan that solves this issue. >> that was republican presidential mitt romney speaking during an interview on univision last week. he got much louder applause than

president obama did, juan gonzalez. >> yes he did, because as some of the reports came out afterwards, he actually trucked in supporters. the original agreement was that romney would be given tickets to disperse young republicans on the university of miami campus, but they apparently could not find enough students on the campus to fill the theater, so they insisted on busing supporters from outside the university, who were a lot more rowdy, i think, than the students would have been. you know, i think that one of the things that i think it's important to understand about the current immigration debate in the country, as i mentioned in the film, the last "amnesty" or attempt a comprehensive immigration reform in this country came under the most conservative president and our lifetime, which was ronald reagan. it was reagan who approved the or signed into law the simpson

readying a bill that provided the opportunity for about 3 million people who were then in the country, undocumented, to legalize their status. we are talking about 11 the following people that are undocumented in the united states. and i think that the extreme -- the most extreme right of the republican party understands that if 11 million to 12 laypeople are able to legalize their status and become voters, it will change the political landscape of america for decades to come. they understand it could spell doom of the republican party for a generation to come. and that's why i think there are struggling so much against it, just as they did back in 1986 with the first comprehensive immigration reform. so i think there is a political reason for this the vehement

opposition to basically adjusting the status for folks that really, for the most part, are not criminals. they're hard-working people. there were forced to, by a variety of reasons, leave their countries. they're contributing to the prosperity of the united states, so that -- and especially the dreamers, the young folks. so i think that is what is at stake here, is that not only a humanitarian gesture to the people that are here, but also the political repercussions that will come about as a result. >> that is juan gonzalez and and what are lópez, co-producer of juan gonzalez's film, "harvest of empire." the film, we're offering you for a contribution of $100. the book, a contribution of $100. the book is the basis of the film opening in theaters across

the country in march, together, $150. what an incredible gold mine of information and inspiration. we ask you to call 866-359-4334. i am amy goodman, host of "democracy now!" the coasting with juan gonzalez promised 17 years. please, call in right now. support link tv. link tv is on dish network and direct tv as well. together around the country, we broadcast "democracy now!" monday through friday, 11:00 every morning, eastern standard time, 6:00 in the evening eastern standard time. we ask you to call to ensure this collaboration continues. 866-359-4334. ellen, thank you for calling in from washington. we urge you to call.

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the canadian physician who has been so popular on our airwaves. you can get all three of his books as well as the dvd of the speech he just gave in california. any of the books separately, $100. the books separately. as one package, $300. on thursday, we brought you tavis smiley and cornell west, "the rich and the rest of us." you get an amazing evening that we spent with a thousand people. we play the speech yesterday. that is the contribution of $100 -- that is for a contribution of $150. and "harvest of empire." for all of this, $1,000. you get "democracy now!" twice a day on link tv. call 866-359-4334. 866-359-4334.

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expansion that gave the u.s. control of puerto rico, cuba, and more than half of mexico, to the covert operations that opposed the oppressive military regimes in the dominican republic, guatemala, nicaragua, and salvador. "harvest of empire." as juan says, they never teach us in school the huge latino presence was a direct result of our own government's actions and mexico, caribbean, and sentiment and central america. please call 866-359-4334. 866-359-4334. your call makes a difference. you make it possible for a link "democracy now!" tv! to happen right here. 866-359-4334. if you want a separate set of work, his, -- juan's latest book in paperback called

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